Ujjwal Nikam, the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) candidate for the Mumbai North Central Lok Sabha constituency, lauded Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday, asserting that the nation can no longer be dubbed a ‘Banana’ nation under Modi’s leadership. Nikam, the former public prosecutor who represented the Maharashtra government in several high-profile cases, has replaced incumbent MP Poonam Mahajan, the daughter of the late BJP leader Pramod Mahajan, as the saffron party’s Lok Sabha candidate for the Mumbai North Central Lok Sabha constituency. He is contesting the election against Varsha Gaikwad, the sitting MLA and the Mumbai unit chief of the opposition Congress party.
“India’s image that PM Modi has created across the world, no one can call our country a ‘Banana’ nation today… Home Minister has made it clear in the Parliament that old laws need to be changed, and he also changed a lot of them,” Nikam told newswire ANI. The former public prosecutor said that he was not in politics for any gains, adding, “Ram Rajya cannot be attained until there is the rule of law amongst the people. I also thought that I should also contribute to the steps taken by the Modi government.”
On Thursday, Nikam resigned as a special public prosecutor in all the cases he handled, ahead of submitting his nomination. Nikam shot to fame after he handled cases related to the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts case, the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks, and the Khairlanji case, among several others. Earlier, speaking to ANI, Nikam had said that politics is a new challenge, and he will win the confidence of the common man. “I would like to amend extradition laws so that more and more criminals are brought to book. I will float what ideas I have and if the party approves, I will work on them.”
When questioned about his opponent, Nikam said, “She is carrying forward her political agenda, while I will do the same for my party. I am confident I will be successful.”
After the saffron party announced Nikam’s candidature, Mumbai BJP chief Ashish Shelar termed him a ‘true patriot’ who fought for the people of Mumbai. He also appealed to opposition parties to withdraw the nominations of candidates fighting against Nikam.
